About RTC/CL

The Research and Training Center on Community Living completed its work in September 2017 - but our resources are still here for you!

The Research and Training Center on Community Living (RTC/CL) was created in 2011 through a five-year, $4.25 million grant from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (now the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research, or NIDILRR). NIDRR awarded the grant to the Research and Training Center on Independent Living (RTC/IL) at the University of Kansas to help people with disabilities live in and participate more fully in their communities.

Research partners, advisory panel members and other stakeholders gathered to discuss the Center's projects in April 2013. For more photos, see our Facebook photo album "RTC/CL Bridging Meeting."

The RTC/CL is a consortium based at the University of Kansas (KU). At KU, Glen W. White directs the RTC/CL. Martha Hodgesmith serves as the center's associate director and Jean Ann Summers is research director.

Other disability scientists from the University of New Hampshire, Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Montana are collaborating on the project.

A 10-person Scientific and Consumer Advisory Panel will consult with center staff throughout the life of the project to assure that projects have both rigor and relevance to the lives of people with disabilities. In addition, several of the projects have their own advisory groups.

People with disabilities (known as "consumers") and service providers will identify their critical needs and work closely with center staff to develop research and products that address these needs. This process ensures that the center meets real, as opposed to perceived, needs in the field.

A Center within a Center

Funding

The contents of this website were developed under a grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR grant number 90RT5015). NIDILRR is a Center within the Administration for Community Living (ACL), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The contents of this website do not necessarily represent the policy of NIDILRR, ACL, or HHS, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.

A specially designed symbol, which can be discretely tucked away in a passport or worn as a pin badge, signals to V… https://t.co/FlLWWKbwUP